We have learned about a new site on a side road off the Mindo Hwy which promises to be great and will be included on our West Slope tour. I went there recently and had the mythical Indigo Flowerpiercer, as well as White-tailed Hillstar, Moss-backed Tanager, Green-fronted Lancebill and Orange-breasted Fruiteater. All rare and cherished species and never found in one spot!

The Indigo Flowerpiercer was a lifer for me and not yet seen by any of our guide staff. Roger went there a few days later and had all of these species plus Barred Hawk and Wedge-billed Hummingbird. On a roadside slope bedecked with Cavendishia, a beautiful showy ericad with red and white tubular flowers, the breathtaking, deeply colored Indigo Flowerpiercer with its penetrating red eye was robbing nectar and vocalizing nicely. The site is 45 min off the hwy and there is a reserve called Mashpi owned by Metropolitan Touring who will be opening a plush lodge there in 2011.